MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks Assistant Coach Terry Stotts is stepping down from the position, according to ESPN.
ESPN reports Stotts returned to coaching after two years, in order to join Adrian Griffin’s new staff with the Bucks. But Scotts decided that he wouldn’t continue in that role, ESPN says.
Stotts was the Portland Trail Blazers head coach for nine years before leaving in 2021.
Terry Stotts has stepped down as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, sources tell ESPN. Stotts returned to coaching after two years away to join Adrian Griffin’s new staff but has decided that he won’t continue in that role.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 19, 2023
Damian Lillard traded
By The Associated Press, Sept. 27, 2023
It became known on July 1 that Damian Lillard (now with the Milwaukee Bucks) asked the Trail Blazers for a trade, which he was long speculated to be considering given his desire to play for a contender and Portland not seeming to have much of a chance with its current roster.
He wanted to go to Miami and made that clear. Portland decided not to accommodate that request, and instead, it's the Bucks who now have an incredibly strong 1-2 punch of Lillard and Antetokounmpo heading into the new season.
“Damian Lillard is an elite player in our league and someone we’ve long been fans of," Bucks general manager Jon Horst said. “These opportunities are rare and hard to measure and execute.”
Lillard was asked on Twitter in May 2022 to pick one current player he'd want to help him reach the playoffs. He gave a one-word answer: "Giannis."
Also included in the deal: Nassir Little, Keon Johnson and Grayson Allen are headed to Phoenix, and Toumani Camara goes to Portland. Portland receives a 2029 first-round pick and the right to swap first round picks in 2028 and 2030 from Milwaukee, and trading Ayton means that Devin Booker is now the lone player from the Phoenix team that played Milwaukee in the 2021 NBA Finals still on the Suns' roster.
The trade continues the Bucks’ dramatic offseason makeover in response to their surprising first-round playoff loss to Miami.
They followed that by firing coach Mike Budenholzer and replacing him with Adrian Griffin, who spent the last five seasons as a Toronto Raptors assistant. Now they've traded away the two-time All-Star Holiday to acquire Lillard, a seven-time All-NBA selection.
The acquisition of Lillard comes after Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP, told The New York Times over the summer that he wanted to see how committed the Bucks are toward winning another championship before deciding whether to sign a long-term deal to stay in Milwaukee.
Antetokounmpo’s contract runs through the 2024-25 season, with a player option for 2025-26.
Bringing Lillard to Milwaukee certainly suggests the commitment is there. It also keeps the high-scoring guard away from Miami, one of the Bucks’ biggest Eastern Conference challengers.
“Yo, NBA, man, y’all need to look into the Bucks for tampering,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said in a video posted to Instagram shortly after details of the trade became known. “Y’all do. I’m just gonna put that out there.”
When Lillard’s request was made public by the Blazers, general manager Joe Cronin said he would do “what’s best for the team” while grudgingly seeking to facilitate his wishes. One of the assistants on Griffin’s staff in Milwaukee is Terry Stotts, who was Lillard’s head coach in Portland from 2012-21.
In the end, the deal with the Bucks is what Cronin and the Blazers deemed best for all involved. It took a massive package to make the trade happen, especially because Lillard is owed a ransom over the next four years. He will make almost $46 million this season and could make as much as $216 million over the next four years if he exercises his option for the 2026-27 season.
